Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, July 30 (Xinhua) -- The spread of Delta strains has accelerated the spread of the global anti-epidemic challenge
Xinhua News Agency
The spread of the Delta strain of the new crown mutant virus has accelerated around the world, and the epidemic in many countries and regions has returned or even reappeared at the peak of the epidemic, and the global fight against the epidemic is facing severe challenges.
Propagation is accelerated
Delta strains are sweeping the world with great speed. According to the latest data from the World Health Organization, the week ending July 25 has seen at least 132 countries and territories, leading to a surge in confirmed covid-19 cases and deaths. The World Health Organization previously predicted that Delta strains are highly contagious and will become the world's leading epidemic in the coming months.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 90 percent of the U.S. regions are currently on the rise in the number of confirmed covid-19 cases, and key indicators have rebounded sharply, which has a lot to do with the accelerated spread of the highly contagious Delta strain, which is estimated to account for 83.2% of the newly confirmed cases in the United States recently.
According to Yonhap News Agency reported on the 29th, the number of new confirmed cases in South Korea in a single day has exceeded 1,000 cases for 23 consecutive days, of which the number of cases infected with Delta strain has increased significantly. Sun Yinglai, an official of the Central Emergency Response Headquarters of South Korea, said on the 26th that from July 18 to 24, the proportion of new confirmed cases in South Korea was infected with the Delta strain was 48%.
The French Ministry of Health said on the 25th that Due to the spread of the mutated new coronavirus Delta strain in France, France is experiencing the fourth wave of the epidemic.
Epidemic prevention has become difficult
According to WHO's weekly outbreak report last week, a new study found that the average time from exposure to the delta strain to positive for the first nucleic acid test was 4 days, compared with 6 days for other mutant strains. In addition, the first detected viral load in a Delta strain infected was more than 1200 times higher than that of the original version of the NEW CORONAVIRUS strain, which meant that the Delta strain replicated faster and more contagiously in the early stages of infection.
In response to the menacing Delta strain, many countries have been forced to adjust or introduce new epidemic prevention measures.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on the 28th that 66.6% of counties in the United States have a high risk of transmission of the new crown virus, and the provision of wearing masks indoors should be restored immediately. The White House decided that from the 28th, all staff members, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or not, will need to wear masks indoors. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention updated its recommendations on the 27th, saying that groups that have completed COVID-19 vaccination still need to wear masks in indoor public places in areas with high epidemic transmission, and unvaccinated groups need to wear masks in indoor public places in all areas.
Clement Boehner, France's state secretary in charge of European affairs, said a few days ago that if the number of new confirmed cases continues to rise, the French government does not rule out re-taking measures such as curfews. The Netherlands, Laos, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries have also recently announced the tightening of epidemic prevention measures.
Three of Australia's six states have announced "lockdowns" that require local residents not to go out unless necessary. Janet Young, chief health officer of Queensland, Australia, said some of the infected people had only very brief contact. "At the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, 15 minutes of close contact was worrying, but now, this time is 5 to 10 seconds."
Vaccines are useful
The spread of the Delta strain underscores the urgency of vaccination. Experts noted that vaccination is still effective in preventing Delta strain infection, and called for accelerated vaccination to reduce the risk of more variants of the virus.
New cases of infection in some countries are often associated with unvaccinated. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on the 25th that the new crown epidemic in the United States has actually become an epidemic of unvaccinated groups. About half of the U.S. population is still unvaccinated, and most of the recent COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. have come from unvaccinated groups.
South Korean media quoted domestic epidemic prevention experts as saying that the fourth wave of the pandemic in South Korea spread fast and wide-ranging, one of the reasons is the sudden increase in confirmed cases among young people who have not yet been vaccinated against the new crown. French Prime Minister Castell said on the 21st that of the more than 18,000 new confirmed cases reported by the country on the 20th, 96% were not vaccinated against the new crown.
Dr Stephen Winchester, a virology consultant at Berkshire and Surrey Pathology Services in the UK, said the risk of infection could be further reduced as more people were vaccinated, thereby halting an increase in infections with the Delta strain.
The European Medicines Agency and the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention have also recently called on EU citizens to be vaccinated as soon as required. The European Drug Administration said that although Delta strains are more transmissible, vaccination is still the best way to protect them. In addition, some countries have announced or are considering giving a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to some populations.
Source: Xinhua Net